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Wishes do come true, so here’s my Christmas wish list

By: witsandnuts
25-11-2011
Blog-o-sphere

princess leia guarding the eiffel tower

How moments fly! It’s now round 2 of our version of bloggers Christmas exchange gift. Thanks to our gracious host, PM for sustaining this initiative. It’s given that gift-hunting and and wish-listing would be challenging since I’m too busy (the same old tune), but I willingly joined in again because I don’t want to miss the fun. I enjoyed last year’s entire process of exchange gift — stitching the set of surprises for my baby blogger and personally receiving the package sent by my ‘mommy blogger’ and exclaiming “yehey, she sent me Princess Leia and R2-D2 (Starwars) and all those things that made my 2010 holidays happier!” It was extra interesting because I got the package while I was vacationing in the Philippines in time for Christmas. So here we are again, I’m looking forward to have an ‘exchange of warmth and care’ with another blogger. Do we have the same wish list? (I did a strike through of those which already materialized. Yehey!)

2011 Wishlist

Something (1) small: artsy hairclift (2) big: new or old magazines which had a feature on Ely Buendia (3) cute: earphones (4) soft: socks with cat print

2011 Wishlist

Something (5) techie: e-reader preferably a Kindle (6) fancy: a brown case for my Fuji X100 (I got two from my friends!) (7) fave color: right now my fave color is ginger because that speaks about our new kitten, Perdita; I’d be pleased to have the book “How to Live With A Neurotic Cat”, PM’s post piqued me (8) wearable: bracelet

2011 Wishlist

Something (9) I need: SLEEP. I’m always striving to increase my zzzzzs-time. As an alternate wish, I need Fuji films for my Instamax mini. My film stock is depleting soon and unfortunately, I can’t source anything within the UAE. (10) work: I miss those Panda pens with sweet scent and glitters from the Philippines, with blue ink as I recall (11) sweet: Lala candies from the Philippines.

Wish-listing is challenging but fun. To my exchange gift partner, I hope this helps as a guide. Enjoy the hunt and stay cool because anything from you is going to be much appreciated, basta don’t forget my Lala candies (wish # 11). :)

[Photo credit: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11]

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Cheers to the Sunday that was and to the 2 winners!

By: witsandnuts
19-07-2011
Blog-o-sphere, Life

Birthday card from Jersey Iggy
(Here’s a scan of the yummy birthday card sent across the miles by my (Jersey) Iggy sister, also known as Fortuitous Faery.)

Last Sunday was extra special because I turned a year older and happier. I didn’t expect that I’d enjoy (this much) the process of growing old (minus the weight gain, ugh!) because I still feel invincible. It’s wonderful when one gets accustomed to dealing with things on a per state of mind basis.

And here’s to say cheers to the winners of my blog anniversary and birthday giveaway. The judges, whom included myself, had a difficult time selecting the winners. Let’s congratulate Lauren and Yellow Bells! I will be sending the Photobook Philippines’ vouchers to the respective emails you used in leaving the comment. Many thanks to those who participated. It’s always a pleasure to know more about my readers.

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Blog anniversary and birthday giveaway

By: witsandnuts
04-07-2011
Blog-o-sphere, Photography

Photobook Philippines
(A thousand photos were taken but only a few made it to the special prints. Are we on the same boat?)

Hello everyone!

I know I’ve been quiet lately and I thank those who continuously drop by to say hi in your own ways. For those who asked, no, I was not traveling (yet) but I’m so consumed by responsibilities on and off-work. But all in all, I’m doing good. Since my favorite month has arrived, let’s talk about growing up and gratitude. I’m holding a blog anniversary and birthday giveaway as I’m traversing my 4th year of blogging; nonetheless it still feels like that first day when I blogged as if no one was reading. At the same time, I’m turning 32 over a week from now and it (always) feels like I’m in my early 20s and that life has just begun.

In the several years of blogging and awe-inspiring discoveries in life, I’ve taken a lot of photos and accumulated a multifold of memories wherein no photo was involved. With all the camera clicks, one of the simple things that I’ve been meaning to do for a long time is to finalize/submit the photobooks I’ve started (some are meant to be given as presents). And I thought it is an agreeable idea to share two (2) Photobook Philippines’ vouchers worth P4,000 each. In principle, I would like to imagine sharing a scene with two charming readers (either miles away or not) doing the photobook layout and customizing the other details at our own paces (with the use of the free software). And there’s no rush, we have until February 28, 2012 to redeem the vouchers. So, we can be meticulous at this point!

How to join the giveaway?

Simple rule: let’s have fun and get to know each other better!

1. Please leave a comment on this post and share with me/us your birthday (feel free to include your birth year and other trivial details about any of your birthday celebrations or the day that you were born).
2. Given a chance, which photos are you going to include in the personalized photobook? Why?

Two winners are going to be selected based on the response provided. The contest is open to everyone until 17th July. The winners shall be announced on 19th July.

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Witsandnuts on Abu Dhabi Week

By: witsandnuts
18-06-2011
Blog-o-sphere, UAE

Thanks to Abu Dhabi Week magazine for featuring my blog together with Grapeshisha and Finding Abu Dhabi

Thanks to Abu Dhabi Week for featuring this blog along with Grapeshisha and Finding Abu Dhabi. Last month, I was contacted by Sawaiba Khan, one of their writers, requesting for this feature. I agreed to respond to a number of questions provided that she was going to tackle it with no mention of specific and personal stuff. I have no idea if the boss was already reading this blog that time. Anyway, since Abu Dhabi Week is widely read especially during the weekends, I’m glad that she agreed with my terms because being more than semi-anonymous would be a weight to handle at this point. Hahahaha.  By the way, thanks to those who tweeted and/or SMS-ed me about this.

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Blogger pals suspected as drug traffickers, heads up to travelers

By: witsandnuts
02-06-2011
Blog-o-sphere, Boohoo!

I am not able to bloghop a lot lately, but as I was checking my twitter last night, I saw two feeds that mentioned about bloggers who were harassed at the immigration in Denpasar Airport, Bali, Indonesia. As I clicked the link, I didn’t expect even a bit that these bloggers were actually those whom I know online for quite a time now, especially Dyanie. When I think of Bali, I can only imagine nice things. But after reading Chyng’s post, the image has been tarnished to a certain extent because of the totally unacceptable harassment they went through in the immigration. I cannot imagine two angelic faces being suspected as drug traffickers. Or let’s say, it’s alright to be professionally skeptic if the job requires it, but be human and professional. And should the skepticism on certain groups or individuals didn’t prove anything, they should give a reasonable explanation and honest apology.

The problem with possibilities and halo effect is people tend to generalize things. In their case, they traveled to have clean fun and celebrate their birthdays but because sh*t happens, they were suspected as drug traffickers — because they are Filipinos. Apparently, the recent cases of captures in the region via the immigration involved Filipinos.

As I read the account of how it happened (and as I spoke to Dyanie last night), I was enraged and I have so much regard for them for keeping their cool. You know the probability of being set-up and all that and as Dyanie said, only when she finally did set foot in NAIA (Philippine airport) that she felt really safe. As she said, “Hindi na ako babalik sa Indonesia, hindi muna ako magtra-travel outside the country. ”

We learn from this experience. No matter how prepared we may seem when we travel like knowing the contact numbers of the Office of the Philippine Embassy in the country we are visiting, observing the luggage security, and all that, there are things beyond our control that happen.  I hope that our government is aware of and doing something about this kind of situation.

Take the best of care, everyone.

You must read this: My traumatic experience as an alleged drug trafficker in Bali, Indonesia by Chyng Reyes.

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